Literature / Corvis Rebaine

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Once, he was the most feared man in all of Imphallion. Clad in an enchanted suit of black armor, wielding the legendary demon-forged axe Sunder, channeling the mystic power of one of the lords of Hell, and standing at the head of an army of ruthless mercenaries, savage ogres, and psychotic gnomes, the Terror of the East swept across the land, destroying all who opposed him. But then, just at the very moment of his triumph, when all of Imphallion seemed within his grasp, Corvis Rebaine simply vanished, leaving his army to fall into disarray and taking with him only a single hostage, the young noblewoman Tyannon.

Almost 20 years later, in a remote village far from the cities he once sacked, Corvis and Tyannon live together happily as husband and wife, tending their small farm and raising their two children. But their domestic bliss soon finds itself shaken by the rise of a new threat to the nation: Audriss the Serpent, a ruthless warlord who has accumulated weapons, allies, and powers startlingly like Corvis's own and seems to be following the former conqueror's plans of decades past to the letter. And when a roving patrol of Audriss's troops abducts his daughter, Corvis knows that he cannot sit by from the sidelines.

Donning once more the skull helm that he had vowed to set aside forever, Corvis Rebaine sets out to reassemble the coterie upon which he built his short-lived empire — the cunning ogre Davro, the cannibalistic witch Seilloah, and the bound demon lord Khanda — and turn them, this time, not to conquering Imphallion but to rescuing it from Audriss's foul plot. But can he save a nation that still views him as its greatest villain? And, perhaps more importantly, can he save himself from the dark impulses that once made him every inch the man they fear?

A Dark Fantasy series by Ari Marmell, previously best known as a freelance RPG writer and the author of several tie-in novels to Magic: The Gathering. The series marks his first published work in an original setting. The first entry in the series, The Conqueror's Shadow, was published in 2010. A sequel, The Warlord's Legacy, appeared in 2011.

Badass Grandpa: Corvis is now in his late fifties and hasn't been on the field of battle in better than fifteen years, but he can still take on an entire squad of soldiers singlehandedly (and that's without the aid of Sunder and Khanda).

Evil Versus Evil: Corvis may have good intentions (first giving Imphallion a better form of government, then later protecting his family), but he's still a ripe bastard willing to horribly slaughter thousands of innocent people to achieve his goals. And Audriss is, if anything, worse.

Evil Weapon/Forged by the Gods/Morph Weapon/Named Weapons: The Kholben Shiar, demon-forged blades that hunger for carnage, can slice through any mundane blade with ease, and take a specific shape to reflect the soul of their wielder. Corvis's is an axe called Sunder, while Audriss's is a dagger called Talon.

Final Battle: Complete with three different armies slugging it out, the summoning of a pair of mythological monsters that begin laying waste to a city, The Dragon smacking around Corvis's companions, and, of course, a climactic fight between the Serpent and the Terror of the East.

Flashback: Each chapter begins with a flashback to Corvis's first campaign, to his travels with Tyannon, or to Audriss's rise to power.

Good Is Not Nice: Rheah Vhoune, the closest any character comes to being really "good," is an excellent illustration of this.

Grievous Harm with a Body: At one point, Corvis, having been deprived of Sunder, uses the severed head of a fallen enemy as a makeshift flail.

Moral Myopia: Corvis suffers from this greatly as no matter how depraved his deeds are including the brutal massacre of thousands and sacking of entire cities, he never sees fault or puts blame on something else.

The Napoleon: Audriss is repeatedly mentioned to be shorter than average. This is a subtle clue that he's not Jassion, Tyannon's younger brother, despite many a Red Herring to the contrary.

No Badass to His Valet: Even at the height of his power, Corvis doesn't intimidate Velascienn a bit, because Velascienn knew him back when he was just Officer Corvis Rebaine of the Royal Army of Imphallion.

Only in It for the Money: Corvis's mercenary army. Even being tricked into believing they have personal reasons to seek revenge against Audriss doesn't prevent them from demanding part of their pay in advance.

Our Vampires Are Different: In their natural state, they are patches of mist that can enter corpses and the bodies of those close to death and turn them into People Puppets. They're called "the Endless Legion" because killing the body simply allows them to switch to a new host...unless the body has been stabbed with a length of wood, in which case they are trapped within the wood and killed when they try to find a new host.

Out-Gambitted: Seilloah tricks Audriss into helping Corvis escape from Jassion by making him think he's getting one over on her.

Sequel Hook: Corvis decides not to assume command of Imphallion and goes back to his farm...along with the spell capable of controlling dozens of people and some personal effects that will allow him to use it on some of the most powerful of the Guildmasters.

Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: All over the place, especially from Davro (who never tires of reminding everyone that he's only there because Corvis is blackmailing him) and Khanda (who openly delights in tormenting Corvis).

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